Volcanoes: Ejyafjallajokull, 2010 Flashcards
1
Q
What happened? (5)
A
- April and May 2010, the volcano erupted causing massive disruption to industries, businesses and airlines across Europe and further afield.
- Led to outpouring of ash above skies of Northern Europe.
- Iceland sits astride to mid-Atlantic ridge and plate boundary and is literally being split in two.
- Ejyafjallajokull achieved a VEI of 4 when its ash plume was blown almost 10km into the atmosphere.
- Ice cap was over the volcano but ice melted due to heat and this increased explosivity and ejected ash high into the air.
2
Q
What were the SOCIAL impacts? (3)
A
- Local popn. was evacuated for safety, and because of respiratory threats due to the ash.
- In Europe, people used Facebook to ‘buddy up’ with people in order to share costs e.g. hiring a car to travel from south of France to the UK due to flight cancellations.
- Huge reduction in aircraft noise around major airports. Improved quality of life, albeit temporarily.
3
Q
What were the ECONOMIC impacts? (12)
A
- April 15th- first load of flights cancelled across Europe.
- April 18th - nearly all ice had melted,so the ash plume dropped in height - UK airspace was then opened up again in the South.
- May 4th - ash closed Western side of UK’s airports.
- May 9th - many trans-Atlantic flights were cancelled from Iceland down to northern Spain.
- Local flooding as the glacier melted. A main road had to be breached to let the surplus water flow safely to the sea.
- Fresh fish exports were affected badly due to loss of income to the major local industry.
- One day at Heathrow alone, 1,000 flights were cancelled. People could not travel to weddings, for business, holidays etc.
- The fine ash could not be seen at high altitudes where planes fly. However, can scour windscreens and reduce visibility and when ash gets into engines it melts and causes them to shut down.
- Airlines were losing millions of pounds a day in lost business and on top of that, people were claiming compensation or cover for their extra holiday costs.
- Positive impact - the channel tunnel did a lot of extra business.
- Europe lost $2.6 billion GDP and suffered 11.7% drop in air passenger numbers.
- 400,000 Britons stranded worldwide.
4
Q
What were the ENVIRONMENTAL impacts? (3)
A
- Locally, livestock were taken inside to escape ash.
- Fluroide was deposited on ground from volcano on grazing land and could cause internal haemorraging in cattle and sheep.
- Due to reduction in air traffic, 2.8 million tonnes less of carbon dioxide was emitted during the period globally!
5
Q
What have the done to manage NOW? (3)
A
- Meltwater is constantly monitored, and so is ash.
- There are seisometers around the volcano recording ground vibrations.
- Seismicity also detects magma and whether the volcano is heading to erupt.
6
Q
What do scientists want to look at for the future?
A
- Want to find out more about how ash clouds form and disperse - this would lead to better models of ash cloud behaviour, which in turn would enable more informed decisions to be made about whether or not planes could fly.
- The aviation industry are experimenting with an infrared sensor which would be attached to all planes and allow them to detect and avoid volcanic ash clouds.
7
Q
When was the eruption?
A
April-May 2010
8
Q
How do you spell it?!
A
Ejyafjallajokull
9
Q
What VEI did it achieve?
A
4
10
Q
Why was there so much ash?
A
Because there was an ice cap over the volcano, ice melted due to heat and this increase explosivity and ejected ash high into the atmosphere.
11
Q
When were the first flights cancelled across Europe?
A
April 15th
12
Q
When did the ice all melt and the ash plume drop in height?
A
April 18th
13
Q
When were trans-Atlantic flights cancelled?
A
May 9th
14
Q
One day alone at Heathrow, how many flights were cancelled?
A
1,000
15
Q
How much GDP did Europe lose?
A
$2.6 billion
